In 1953–54 New Zealanders went to extraordinary lengths to present their best face to royalty – and to the world. ‘Sheep were dyed in the patriotic colours of red, white and blue; in New Plymouth both bowling club members and the local pony club formed into an E on the ground’, Jock Phillips wrote. ‘Screens were erected to hide unsightly buildings, and citizens were instructed when and how to plant blue lobelias, red salvias and white begonias.’

David Lange, who sang for the Queen as a schoolboy in 1953, recalled that ‘roads were sealed so she could drive along them, or in the case of the road from Kaikohe to Whangarei, the half she drove on was sealed and the other half finished many years afterwards.’

Over time, subsequent royal tours became less formal. Indeed, ‘informality was the keynote’ became a journalistic cliché.

The Queen’s Silver Jubilee tour of 1977 came closest to recapturing the spark of the 1953–54 tour. But attitudes were changing and that year some New Zealanders might have smiled to read of the Wellington City Council giving the Wellington Harbour Board ‘a gentle reminder that the Queen might not like to see a wharf full of containers when she visits the Capital.’

Royal travel became less ostentatious after the decommissioning of the royal yacht
Britannia
in 1997. For decades New Zealanders had become accustomed to seeing the big ship escorted around the country by a Royal New Zealand Navy frigate. When the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh last visited in 2002, they travelled by commercial aircraft.

Other members of the royal family have paid many visits to New Zealand to support charities, to recognise significant milestones and to represent the Queen. In 1983, photographers caught a famous image of the Prince and Princess of Wales relaxing on the lawn of Government House, Auckland, while young
Prince William played with a buzzy-bee toy.
Prince William returned to New Zealand in 2010 to open the new Supreme Court building in Wellington. While there, the casually dressed prince joined Prime Minister John Key at a barbecue at Premier House.

In 2012 members of the royal family celebrated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee by visiting all the Commonwealth countries of which she is head of state, while the Queen concentrates her efforts in the United Kingdom. New Zealand was visited by Prince Charles, accompanied by Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.